PolicyLab

Sherita Williams (she/her) is a clinical research program manager at PolicyLab who co-leads the strategy and implementation of the Clinical Community Systems Integration (CCSI) Child Care Navigation initiative, a first-of-its-kind program designed to improve access to child care resources for families receiving primary care at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). In addition, Sherita develops and maintains early childhood education resources and educational opportunities for staff across the CHOP enterprise. Beyond CCSI, she contributes to early childhood education research and policy initiatives across PolicyLab by providing early childhood education subject matter expertise on multidisciplinary projects. Her work includes collaborating with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families on research examining the relationship between Universal Pre-K expansion and child care closures, as well as serving as a child care advisor for the Community Partnerships in Grants joint pilot project, Childcare Access for Recovery and Equity (C.A.R.E.) Study.

Sherita brings more than a decade of experience in early childhood education, having held management roles and contributed to the development of health and family services initiatives funded at the federal, state and local levels.  Before joining PolicyLab, she worked to streamline Pre-K and child care enrollment for low-income families, with a focus on reducing barriers for children with special health care, behavioral health and Early Intervention needs, promoting inclusive early childhood settings across Head Start, Pre-K Counts and PHLpreK programs.

In addition to her early childhood education work, Sherita serves as a research team member for the Evaluation of the Young Child and Parent Program, in collaboration with the Health Federation of Philadelphia. In this role, she oversees participant enrollment and conducts qualitative interviews with caregivers in residential treatment sites across Philadelphia and Bucks Counties, supporting the implementation and evaluation of a therapy model aimed at strengthening parent-child attachment among parents receiving substance use disorder treatment.

Sherita's research interests include maternal and child health, early childhood education and family stability and well-being. She is particularly passionate about preventive approaches, including social needs screening and systems integration, and advancing policies and programs that strengthen families and communities by improving access to supportive services.

Sherita earned her Master of Public Health in Management and Administration from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Work.